Non-Inventory Items/Services

Manager Settings > Non-Inventory Items

Non-inventory Items

Non-inventory items are normally used for setting up services that are billed to customers.

They are shortcuts for entering line items in many sales- and purchase-related transaction forms in Manager. They are completely optional. Unlike inventory items, they are not required for any transaction entry.

But once defined, they help:

Standardize terminology by always referring to a product or service with identical language
Improve accounting accuracy by always posting similar income or expense items to the same accounts
Store and apply consistent prices to commonly sold or purchased goods or services
Speed up entries by automatically filling information on forms

Note

Non-inventory items can be used for sale and purchase of physical goods, but they do not support counting quantities on hand, monitoring stock movement, or calculating profitability. For those functions, use inventory items.

Before non-inventory items can be employed, they must be created. And they can only be created if at least one sales- or purchase-related tab that can make use of them is enabled.

With at least one such tab enabled, go to the Settings tab, click on Non-inventory Items, then New Non-inventory Item:

Complete the definition:

Code can be anything that helps find, sort, or categorize the item. If used, Code will appear on forms.
Name will appear when searching for a non-inventory item to complete a line item. If no further description of the item is entered, Name will appear in the Description field on completed forms, such as sales invoices.
Unit Name is optional, but can be used to specify units by which the item will be sold or purchased. Only one unit name is allowed; if goods or services are purchased and sold in different units, either apply conversions before making entries or create separate non-inventory items.
The Description field is for more comprehensive information. Its contents will appear on finished forms in place of Item name. Anything a customer or supplier should see can be placed into this field.
The Division field appears only if any divisions are defined. The assigned division will be automatically populated on any transaction form where allowed.
When sold fields allow you to select the Account to which a sale of the non-inventory item will be posted, applicable Tax Code, and the Unit price. Notice that only the amount field allows free text. The other fields must be selected from previously defined accounts or tax codes. This information will be prefilled whenever this non-inventory item is added to a sales-related form.
When purchased fields allow you to select the Account to which a purchase of the non-inventory item will be posted, applicable Tax Code, and the Unit price. Information in these fields is treated the same way on purchase-related forms as that in When sold fields on sales-related forms.

Click Create to save the non-inventory item. After the item has been created, you can check the Inactive box to prevent accidental use of obsolete items:

Using non-inventory items

Non-inventory items can be used for:

Receipts and payments
Expense claims
Sales and purchase quotes
Sales and purchase orders
Sales and purchase invoices
Credit and debit notes
Delivery notes and goods receipts

When completing any of these forms, an Item field will appear at the left end of line items whenever any inventory or non-inventory items have been defined. For example, if no inventory items are defined, but non-inventory items have been, all the above forms will include the Item field.

To use a non-inventory item, click on the dropdown box of the Item field. Or, begin typing the Item code or Item name in the field to take advantage of the autosearch capability. When a non-inventory item has been selected, all its parameters will automatically be filled for the line. Anything can be edited except the account to which the item is posted:

Updating non-inventory items

Non-inventory items can be updated when required, such as when a service description is altered or a price change occurs. Go to Settings Non-inventory Items and click Edit for the item to be changed:

Edit the item as desired and click Update. Existing transactions using the non-inventory item will not be modified. Only future forms will be affected.

If the non-inventory item is no longer needed, it can be deleted as long as it has never been used. But Manager will not allow non-inventory items to be deleted if they have been used. In that case, check the box, and the non-inventory item will no longer be available.

If an inactive non-inventory item becomes useful again, scroll to the bottom of the non-inventory items list, where you will see the item’s name in light grey text with strike-through markings:

Click Edit next to the item’s name. Uncheck the box and the item will once again be available. Remember to click Update when finished editing.